Facebook no longer attractive among teens

A 2022 study by Pew Research Center uncovers that nearly all US teens right now use YouTube, whereas only 32 percent say they use Facebook. STOCK PHOTO

INTERNET use has increased massively in the past two decades and today, there are more active users than ever. Social media websites, in particular, have become extremely popular, with Facebook being the third most visited site in 2021.

Despite the recent rise of Instagram businesses and influencers, Facebook remains the most popular marketing platform — in 2021, 78 percent of its users said they have found new products and services on the platform according to data published by BroadbandSearch.

TikTok, on the other hand, was the most downloaded app last year after launching internationally back in 2017.

Social media is a big part of teenagers' lives — new generations are now being born in a digital world where texting and sharing videos have largely replaced real-life (or irl, as Gen Zs would say) communication. Tracking what interests young people and, particularly teenagers, when accessing the internet is a fascinating, useful tool for spotting larger trends and even peeking into the future.

Striving for answers, the team at TradingPedia examines a new report called "Teens, Social Media and Technology" by the Pew Research Center. It uncovers some interesting tendencies in young people's preferences such as the fact that nearly all teens right now use YouTube whereas only 32 percent say they use Facebook.

While Facebook remains the top platform of choice among all age groups in the US and worldwide, American teens prefer to spend their time mostly on YouTube. The website which launched in 2005 as a video streaming platform is now the most popular social media site among teenagers in the US, with 95 percent saying they have ever used it and 19 percent admitting they visit it almost constantly.

Next in popularity is TikTok (and its original Chinese version Douyin) which was released in 2016 but did not become globally available until 2018 when it merged with the Chinese social media platform Musical.ly. Of those surveyed by Pew Research Center, 67 percent say they have used the app and 16 percent say they use it almost constantly.

The third most popular social media platform among US teens is the video-sharing service Instagram, owned by Meta Platforms (known until recently as Facebook Inc.). Sixty-two percent of respondents are Instagram users, while 10 percent open or use it almost constantly.

Photo sharing app Snapchat is following closely, with 59 percent of teens using it. Fifteen percent say they are constantly on it.

Meanwhile, less than a third (32 percent) of all teens in the survey visit Facebook, and only 2 percent are almost constantly on it. Note that researchers did not include Facebook's Messenger as a separate platform in the survey, so it is likely that these percentages reflect the use of both Facebook and Messenger.

Teens were also asked about several other social media platforms and the results show that 23 percent used Twitter, 20 percent used Twitch, 17 percent were on WhatsApp, 14 percent used Reddit and a mere 5 percent say they ever used Tumblr.

Things change quickly in the world of social media, even more so when it comes to young people and their preferences. Facebook was once the most used social media website among teenagers in the US with 71 percent of them being on it in 2014.

Data from a similar survey by Pew Research Center shows that from 2014 to 2015, Instagram was the second most popular after Facebook with 52 percent using it, while Snapchat was used by 41 percent of respondents.

By 2018, when researchers conducted yet another survey, there was a significant shift in the social media landscape. Facebook's popularity dropped, and it had become the fourth most used platform with only 51 percent of teens using it. YouTube had replaced it — 85 percent of teenagers in the US said they used the website. Another interesting fact is that two platforms from the 2014 to 2015 survey were not present in the 2018 statistics — Vine and Google+, which were discontinued.

Teens on social media

Since TikTok exploded in popularity in 2018 and 2019, there have been concerns that the app and the short video form of the content, may affect users' attention spans and cause addiction.

However, findings from the Pew Research Center report show that YouTube is used more frequently than TikTok, at least at first glance. Nearly three-quarters or 77 percent of teens visit YouTube at least once a day compared to 57 percent who say they are daily TikTok users. Daily (or more frequent) use of platforms drops to 51 percent for Snapchat, 49 percent for Instagram, and 18 percent for Facebook.

But when we look at how many use TikTok and Snapchat at all, we could see that a larger share of users log in daily or more frequently. Around 86 percent of those who use the two platforms open them every day. And a quarter of users are on the apps almost constantly.

This brings us to the next question — is it hard for teens to stop using social media? Unsurprisingly, the short answer is "Yes," at least for half of the youngsters that took part in the survey.

More than a third of teens or 36 percent say they spend too much time on social media, while 55 percent think they spend just the right time on these platforms. Another 8 percent believe their time on social media is "too little."

Researchers also asked them how hard it would be for them to quit social media and 54 percent of respondents said it would be hard — that would be "very hard" for 18 percent of teens and "somewhat hard" for 35 percent. For 20 percent of teens, this task would be "very easy," while 26 percent found it "somewhat easy."

Moreover, 78 percent of teens who say they spend too much time on social media admit it would be hard for them to quit it, with 29 percent describing it as "very hard."

Visayas, Mindanao internet to get boost

By Francis Earl Cueto, Manila Times

THE Marcos administration plans to improve the internet connection in Visayas and Mindanao with the help of mega-billionaire Elon Musk's Starlink satellite communications network.

Information and Communications Secretary Ivan John Uy on Monday said Starlink is ideal for such an upgrade because it uses low-orbit satellites.

"The scope of coverage is far greater and can reach areas that can't be reached or are hard to reach," Uy said in a press briefing.

He said telecommunications companies or telcos usually find it hard to set up in "missionary routes" or areas that have few users.

A network of low-orbit satellites like Starlink's is ideal for such a venture, he said.

"So far, the coverages are [in] the northern part of the Philippines and not much in the southern part where we badly need satellite connectivity. That is why a new satellite might be launched that would cover central Philippines," Uy said.

He did not say if the project will be handled by the government or a private firm, but that it is targeted to be done by the end of the year.

Uy said that right now he is reviewing the projects of the agency since there are numerous problems that need to be dealt with first.

Among them is the strengthening or reviving of the free public WiFi.

"We are studying it; we have to sit down and work on it. There are many and different issues that need to be resolved first," he said.

The free WiFi project has been saddled with problems, including the nonpayment to the subscriptions for connectivity, and hardware and contractor issues.

Uy vowed that the DICT "will continue to make the free public WiFi more effective."

Philippines Has Expensive Turtle Internet

A global digital well-being study reveals the poor state of Internet in the Philippines.

By ESQUIRE PHILIPPINES 

IMAGE Unsplash, Wikimedia, Freepik

ILLUSTRATOR Bianca Papa

Access to the Internet has become a sore spot for the Philippines lately. Now that people are working from home, most are finding that their personal providers are slow, unreliable, or, worst, unavailable, as in there is no connection to the world wide web at all.

The Digital Quality of Life Index 2020, a recent study by VPN provider Surfshark, affirms these connectivity woes. Overall, the Philippines, which is highlighted twice in the 32-page report (and not in a good way), ranks 66 out of 85 countries in terms of digital well-being. 

The Philippines has expensive Internet connection. 

In the Internet Affordability index, which measures the time required to afford the cheapest mobile and broadband Internet in the country, the Philippines lands at 82, besting only a few countries such as Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Albania. Israel wins the round as the country with the most affordable Internet. 

Data also reveals that it takes 1,994 seconds of work to afford the cheapest mobile Internet and 75 minutes of work to afford the cheapest broadband Internet in the country.

The Philippines has poor Internet quality. 

The study’s Internet Quality index measures the average broadband and mobile download speeds and broadband and mobile stability during the pandemic.

Here, the Philippines chugs along at 77, placing it among the countries with the slowest and least stable Internet. Asian neighbor Singapore takes the top spot, while other Asian countries such as Nepal, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Indonesia occupy the five bottom slots in this category. 

The Philippines has less secure Internet.

E-security is gauged via the country’s cyber security efforts and personal data protection. In this index, the Philippines fares better, landing somewhere in the middle at 46.

The United Kingdom is the most prepared to fight cyber crime, taking the top spot, while Bangladesh has the poorest e-security, finding itself at the bottom.

The Philippine government has an above-average Internet presence.

Surprisingly, the Philippine government's above-average online presence—how its services are digitized or can be done over the Internet—hoists the country’s ranking for Electronic Government to 36.

Singapore, once more, takes the crown for having the most developed e-government, while Sri Lanka lags behind the rest at 85.

The study also observes that, for most, the e-security rating correlates with the e-government rank, as seen in the U.K., France, and Finland, all of which rank high in the indices.  

What does it all mean?

The numbers don’t lie. A poor showing in the study reflects the sorry state of connectivity in the Philippines, and this is negatively affecting the lives of Filipinos.

High costs mean limited access. Unstable connections decrease efficiency in work and enjoyment when you’re watching Netflix. Just think of the frustration when a movie stutters and then grinds to a halt.

The pandemic has only put a spotlight on the country’s Internet deficiencies. What should follow next is innovation.

Facebook – Facebook

TUE, NOVEMBER 8, 2016 BY THE MINDANAO DAILY MIRROR LEAVE A COMMENT

IN MY OPINIONKlaus Doring

Do you have a Face-book ac-count? You might reply, “What a crazy question! Of course, I do have!” How do you deal with hatred comments? Do you know how to deal with it? Delete – block – report etc. etc. Did you try it?

A German Munich court to try Facebook’s Zuckerberg for inciting hatred. Mark Zuckerberg and several other senior Facebook staff are facing charges of abetting crimes like Holocaust denial. German authorities believe the social media giant is not doing enough to censor the offensive posts.

The Munich court has opened a lawsuit against Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, German media reported last Friday. News outlet “Der Spiegel” wrote on its website, before the main weekly magazine’s Saturday release, that it had obtained court documents charging the social media mogul with incitement to hatred. Zuckerberg is reportedly being charged alongside Facebook CEO Sheryl Sandberg, chief Europe lobbyist Richard Allan, and his Berlin counterpart Eva-Maria Kirschsieper.

According to the “Spiegel”, the complaint comes from the Würzburg-based attorney Chanjo Jun. In the suit, he accuses Facebook of tolerating appeals for murder, threats of violence, and Holocaust denial, among other things.

Laws regulating hate speech in Germany are extremely tight, with most Nazi symbolism and racist propaganda strictly forbidden, a legacy of Germany’s role in World War II. Although Facebook is obliged to remove illegal content from its site, it has repeatedly garnered hefty criticism for the time it takes to do so.

German Justice Minister Heiko Maas has made hate speech on social media something of a pet project, threatening Twitter and Facebook specifically with being “too slow” in removing offending posts. Maas has pushed a new initiative in Brussels to create EU-wide laws that would hand out stricter penalties for racist or xenophobic content. Spreading racist ideology can come at a hefty price in Germany. Last month, a man in Würzburg became the latest to see jail time over an online post advocating racial hatred. The posts in question advocated violence against Jews, foreigners, and refugees. Although the defendant expressed remorse, he was handed a prison sentence of two years and three months.

We all know: Face-book has often said it stands unequivocally against hate speech, and would work in the future to ensure a swifter removal of related posts. But what did really happened?

Last December 2015, Facebook, Twitter and Google pledged to remove offensive posts in Germany within 24 hours. Users say their requests to take down hate speech often go unheeded. “In Europe we’re currently discussing the audiovisual directive,” Maas said in a veiled warning. It would regulate media providers’ material, including social media outlets that were currently “privileged” in not paying for such content, he said. In Europe! How about in Asia – in the Philippines?

I strongly also agree with the German Justice Minister who stated, “The Internet is an asset”,  but we have a right  this first, to ensure that hate mail is deleted and, second, that the perpetrators are detected.”

Two weeks ago, Volker Kauder, the leader of Merkel’s parliamentary faction warned that he had “run out of patience.”

He suggested a fine of 50,000 Euro (US$ 55,000) if Internet companies failed to take down hate posts within a week. The Brussel’s draft audiovisual directive already includes a passage entitled “prohibition of hate speech” that refers to a 2008 EU “framework decision” to tackle racism and xenophobia via criminal law proceedings.

Its first two articles urge the bloc’s 28 member nations to punish persons who publicly incite or aid and abet violence and hatred with prison terms of up to three years. Liable legal entities can be fined or lose subsidies.

Slow Internet Connections? More Power Interruptions?

Duterte warns power companies to shape up

FRI, MAY 27, 2016 BY THE MINDANAO DAILY MIRROR LEAVE A COMMENT

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews) – Amid the Mindanao power crisis, incoming President Rodrigo R. Duterte warned the major power players in the country that they must shape up or else he will open the industry to foreign investors to deliver a sufficient power supply to the island that has long been plagued by power outages.

Duterte issued the same warning earlier to telephone companies to work on the country’s slow internet speed.

In a late night press conference on Wednesday at the Royal Mandaya Hotel here, the incoming president said that he will be forced to open the country to investors to bring down the electricity costs.

He said consumers take the burden of paying high electricity costs due to the power industry’s penchant to tap expensive energy sources like coal and diesel but failing to deliver sufficient and reliable power supply.

Davao City, for instance, suffered rotational brownouts of up to five hours last month due to the shutdown of the first 150-MW unit of Therma South Inc. (TSI) from April 6 to April 17 and the reduced water levels at the Pulangui River and Lake Lanao because of the El Niño phenomenon.

“Kaya sabi ko you shape up. I told you before, shape up because if you don’t and hindi na kaya ng tao, kakainin sa energy (electricity bills) – importations (of fuel) – papasukin ko ang lahat, pati ang Nigeria, meron kayong oil? You want to put up (power plant)? Come here. We will amend the law to allow you.Babaan nyo. Tapos sino pa, Mexico? Sige bagsak (price) ng husto para kayo wala ng kita,” he said.

On privatizing the government’s power assets, Duterte said “not at this time.”

The state-run power assets in Mindanao are the six hydroelectric plants along the Agus River in the Lanao provinces and the one along the Pulangui River in Bukidnon, with a combined installed capacity of 982 MW.

During the Aboitiz Power’s Therma South Energy Project inauguration last January 8, President Benigno  Aquino  said that Mindanao’s power woes started when no investors came in to Mindanao to build more capacities after Mindanao legislators sought for a 10-year exemption from the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) for the Agus-Pulangui hydro-power plants.

The government claimed private power companies are reluctant to pour in investments in Mindanao as they could not compete with the cheaper rates offered by the hydropower plants.

“The result: As the demand for electricity grew, the supply didn’t. In fact, the hydroelectric plants that were once abundant sources of energy suffered from a number of factors, including the lack of regular maintenance, the vanishing watersheds, and the worsening effects of climate change,” he said.

Aquino said that they anticipated the Mindanao power crisis just before he assumed post six years ago.

“In recent years, Mindanao has had very little energy surplus. In 2010, this resulted in rotating brownouts that understandably frustrated our countrymen, and that stifled local economies. This was a problem we had anticipated even before we took office, which is why, from day one, we made a stern commitment to foster an environment that would encourage the private sector to make massive investments in energy in Mindanao,” he said.

More coal plants are set to be online this year – a 100 MW unit of the Sarangani Energy Corporation in Maasim, Sarangani Province, and two units of San Miguel Power Corporation with combined capacity of 300 MW.

Davao Light and Power Company (DLPC) vice president for Reputation Enhancement Rossano Luga, speaking in “Wednesdays’ at Habi at Kape” in Abreeza of the Ayala Malls, said that they are negotiating with San Miguel for additional 80 MW to jack up its portfolio.

Luga refused to disclose as to when their negotiation would come to fruition.

DLPC’s franchise area covers Davao City, Brgy. Bincungan in Tagum City, and Carmen, Sto. Tomas and Braulio Dujali towns in Davao del Norte.

The DLPC current portfolio is 183 MW from the National Power Corporation (NPC), 49.5 MW from Hedcor Sibulan, 4 MW from HEDCOR-Talomo, 30 MW from Therma Marine Inc., 100 MW from TSI, and 50 MW from Southern Philippines Power Corp.

Luga hopes that their franchise area will not experience rotational brownouts when TSI implements a scheduled maintenance shutdown for its 150 MW unit 2 starting June 18 until July 18.

DLPC serves a total of 305,947 residential customers, 43,296 commercial, 3,750 small industrial, 181 primary retail, and 2 69-kV customers (Holcim and Steel Asia).

“Our positive growth are on the residential and commercial but because of brownouts we did not have the positive growth for big industrial and 69-KV,” he said.  Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews

Philippinen Has Slowest Internet in Southeast Asia

I need the Internet daily. I also struggle daily. Here is why:



PH has slowest internet in Southeast Asia

(C) Philippine Daily Inquirer

What's the Internet's Worst Password?

Regarding a report of AFP Washington the number sequence "123456" has overtaken "password" as the most common worst passwort among Internet users, an online security firm says.

Releasing its annual "Worst Password List", SplashData said it was the first time "password" had lost its number-one position, changing places with its numerial rival.

In third place was "12345678", unchanged from 2012, while "qwerty" and "abc123" came in fourth and fifth - and "iloveyou" climbed two spots to number nine.

Swinging the results, SplashData said, was a major breach involving Adobe software that laid bare the widespread use of weak passwords among users of such Adobe products as Photoshop.

"Seeing passwords like 'adobe123' and 'photoshop' on this list (for the first time) offers a good reminder not tyo be base your passwort on the name of the website or application you are accessing," said SplashData Chief executive Morgain Slain, whose company markets password management apps.

Like other passwords experts, SplashData encouraged Internet users to opt for "passphrases" - a bunch of random words, like "smiles-like-skip?" - that are easy to remember, but harder for online scam artists to crack.

Philippines is 6th in Internet Access

I love Internet. You love Internet. And many Filipinos too. And, it's amazing, the Philippines ranked sixth among 47 countries world-wide with the most internet freedom, a study by Freedom House (FH), a New York-based freedom watchdog, showed.

The study also showed that the Philippines is the only country in Asia that enjoys freedom in online media.

A total of 20 of the 47 countries examined experienced a negative trajectory in internet freedom since 2011, with bahrain, Pakistan, and Ethopia registering the greatest clines.

the 14 countries with most internet freedom worldwide were: Estonia, USA, Germany, Australia, Hungary, Italy, Philippines, United kingdom, Argentina, South Africa, Brazil, Ukraine, Kenya and Georgia.